Converter for making iron or steel.



PATENTBD SEPT. 1, 1903.

W. B. BURROW. CONVERTER FOR MAKIRG; IERON 0R STEEL,

APPLICATION EHJLB'D SEPT. 10, 1902 72m M Flu mute:

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UNITED STATES Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFlCE.

CONVERTER FOR MAKING IRON OR STEEL.

.SEEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 737,577, dated September 1, 1903. Application filed September 10, 1902. Serial Nol22,8 08. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER B. BURROW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norfolk,in the county of Norfolk and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Converters for Making Iron or Steel; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the construction of converters for the manufacture of steel and malleable iron by the pneumatic process.

The object of the invention is to provide a converter or vessel that will produce a great many kinds of steel, ranging from a tough casting metal to that suitable for rolling into rails, girders, bars, and the like, as well as intermediate grades, according to the method of treatment of the molten metal.

One of the principal objects is to produce a metal adapted to general casting and to require very little, if any, annealing and also of sufficient strength to replace forgings. The different stages of treatment of the metal are numerous and all the properties possessed by many steel processes can be made in this converter.

Referring to the drawings, in which the like letters of reference apply to all the figures, Figure 1 is a vertical section through the convertenshell and lining at right-angles to the trunnions or axis. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the trunnions and shows the side 13 opposite the pouring side B, as in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan through the line 3 4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan through the line 1 2 in Fig. 1.

The converter-shell A is supported by trunnions or axis Q on each side of the converter, one being solid and the other hollow in order to form a passage for the blast to the windbox from a suitable air compressor and reservoir. The wind-box is shown at O and its supply-pipe P, Figs. 1, 3, and 4, and from the wind-box the blast is supplied to the twyers, as will be hereinafter explained.

The converter is lined with a refractory substance, as shown at B and B and on the lining opposite the pouring side 13, Fig. 1, as

- at B Figs. 1 and 4, is a projection D, attached to and forming a part of the lining B Figs. 1, 2, and 3. This projection is of a wedge shape and overhangs the bottom O to or near the Vertical center line of the converter. The projection extends over the bottom 0 at more or less distance, according to the size of the converter and its working conditions.

The wedge-shaped projection or twyerblock D tapers upward to the nose or outlet of the converter and has a smaller Wedge-shaped projection or rim F, so that there is a cavity or hollow G, as shown, or by the dotted line H. In the latter case it takes the form of a curve instead of angular, as shown by the full. lines at G, Fig. 1. direction of, the length of the wedge-shaped block, and if the converter is of a circular cross-section there is also formed a concave surface in the direction of the width of the twyer-block, as shown in Fig. 2.

The wedge-shaped projection D has at its lower or thickest end an angle-base E and E the angle being measured on a line parallel with the bottom level 0, Fig. 1, at right angles to the trunnions or axis of the converter.

On the lower part of the wedge -shaped twyer-block D are placed the twyers or air pipes K, L, and M, spaced in suitable rows in the direction of the width of the wedge-shaped block and extending toward the pouring side B from E to the end of the block or center of the converter, as in Fig. 1. The twyers are arranged so that those nearer the lining B as at E, are closer to the metal-level or surface-line N than the twyer row shown at L, and the row K is farther from the line N than either L or M, or, in other words, the twyers are spaced on the angle E and E which is the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle. N, the triangle being on its longer side, as shown in Fig. 1. The twyers K, L, and M are at different heights above the bath, according to the angle assumed by the wedgeshaped projection, and blow downward to the bottom of the converter at various angles above and below the metal, according to the position of the converter. The twyers are supplied by blast-passages, as at J, Figs. 1 and 3, which feed each row of twyers.

blast-pressure passing through the twyers The hollow is formed in the The longer side or altitude is the line The can be regulated by suitable means. When the converter is turned toward the pouring side B, Fig. 1, all the twyers blow downward evenly or parallel with the line N, while, as shown in Fig. 1, they all blow at different distances from the metal-level line N, the twyers K being farther away from N, and the more the converter is tilted in the direction B, Fig. l, the twyer. M nearest the lining B or at E is the farthest from the line N. When the converter is tilted in the opposite direction, the twyers are covered by the molten metal one after the other until all are under the molten bath or partly under, as the nature of the material under treatment requires. The direction of the blast, as shown by the position of the'twyers,is down toward the bottom of the converter at an angle greater or less against the pouring side B. In a blowing downward'in this manner the blasts start a curved motion toward the bottom of the converter and then upward against the pouring side B and dash on the wedgeshaped projection D into the hollow or recess 5 G, and the action is more pronounced the more the converter is tilted in the direction opposite the pouring side or toward the figure 2 in Fig. 1, and the metal-falls back into the converter and by the continued action exposes the metal to the action of the blast and thoroughly mixes it. By the impinging action referred to when the wed ge-shaped twyerblock is of a basic character it will effect dephosphorization in a more marked degree,

the molten metal. The twyers are either formed in the wedge-shaped block or the material rammed around refractory airpipes, made of fire-clay, carbon, or other suitable substance. The air passages or orifices J are formed into the body of the twyer-block D or consist of pipes controlled by suitable means and connecting with the wind-box O. The thicker the body of metal treated orcovered by the twyers the nearer the product approaches that of Bessemer metal, though of a better quality, while the thinner the layer over the twyers makes a metal more suited for castings.

7 Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In a movable pivoted converter or vessel for making steel and malleable iron having a g refractory wedge-shaped projection or twyerblock opposite the pouring side, integral with and attached to the lining and suspended or overhanging more or less over the bottom or hearth of the converter, the lower end of the said wedge-shaped projection or twyer-block having its bottom or thickest end at an angle from thirty to sixty degrees to a line at right due to the erosion of the basic material by.

eave recess G, the rim or passages J from the trunnions or reservoir,

angles to the axis or trunnions of the converter, and the Wedge-shaped twyer-block having a flange or rim on its thinnest or upper end forming a recess or hollow in the direction of its length or height and a concavity in the direction of its width, or axis of converter and occupying the lining above the bottom and the thickest portion of the wedgeshaped projection near the axis of the converter opposite the pouring side, as described;

2. In a tilting converter havinga thicker portion or wedge-shaped projection opposite the pouring side, attached to and forming part of the refractory lining above the bottom of the converter, the said wedge-shaped twyer-block or projection having its lower end at an angle to a line parallel with the bottom or hearth and the upper end of the wedge-shaped twyer-block raised into a flange or rim forming a hollow or concave recess, and a plurality of twyers or airpipes suitably spaced in the said thick part of the wedge-shaped block or projection and the twyers having their direction of discharge downward, towardthe bottom of the converter, at various angles, and the said twyers connected to and controlled by blast-supply passages or inlet-pipes in the body of the wedge-shaped twyer-block, supplying air to the twyers, and a wind-box or reservoir opposite the pouring side receiving the airblast from the trunnions or axis, the said twyers and blast-passages supplied from the wind-box or reservoir, as described. I

3. In a converter or vessel forconverting crude molten iron into steel and malleable iron having a refractory wedge-shaped upward-tapering projection or attached to and forming part of the lining B opposite the pouring side B, and an anglebase or bottom partE and E the hollow conand the twyers or air-pipes K, L and MI having their direction down toward bottom of the converter, and assuming different heights above the surface of the molten metal according to the angle of the lower end or thicker portion of the wedge-shaped projection or twyer-block so as to inject the blast above the molten metal and under same, more or less according to the position of the converter from the perpendicular, or normal vertical position, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WALTER B. BURROW.

Witnesses:

T. W. BUTT, R. HUNTER ROGERS.

for making steel twyer-block D,

flange F, the blast- 

